Critical Thinking Under Pressure: RPI Steams Ahead
Critical Thinking Under Pressure: RPI Steams Ahead
After a year when the battle for the top of the Liberty was very close, RPI has made a huge step in the first two games of the season.
The Engineers beat rivals Albany 39-0 two weeks ago and then beat a tough SUNY Oswego side 68-5.
This improvement is down to a number of factors. One of those is that Ray Santiago is back on the field for RPI. Santiago emerged as a major talent this past year and then participated in the MLR Rising camp, where he performed very well. As a result, Santiago was drafted in the 1st Round of the Major League Rugby draft, with Old Glory DC taking him #12 overall.
Santiago, who learned his rugby at RPI and started as a lock, is now the team’s No. 8 and is scoring three tries a game.
But Santiago isn’t the whole team by any stretch.
“We’ve got a couple of dynamic and athletic forwards and backs,” Santiago told GRR. “These guys have really trained over the summer and developed their rugby IQ, and I think we have a promising season ahead of us.”
More than that, too, it’s numbers.
“We have 90 athletes between the men’s and women’s team,” said RPI Director of Rugby Dave Gardell. “For the men’s team we’re getting 45 to 50 at practice. We have rookies and we’re able to retain them. We have depth. What’s helped is that we’ve been able to get good B-side games.”
With the numbers strong at training and the leading players with talent, RPI is able to challenge all of their players, playing 15-on-15 in practices, and thus keep the players engaged, interested, and learning.
“I am very proud of my team,” said Gardell. “Yes Ray is amazing, an incredible captain, a great leader, but we have a lot of players who have really improved.”
Those include Bennard Amponsah, the flanker who was all-conference last year and is very athletic.
“When I get him working dummy passes, stiff arms, and unders, most team won’t have an answer,” Gardell said.
There’s also Quinten Pienaar, who leads the attack at flyhalf. Up front Daniel Walls is hugely useful at prop and hooker, and he partners nicely with Zachariah Toland. Rounding out the back row is Douglas Stern, who gets a ton of work done.
And Pienaar has some effective backs to use, including the midfield of Thomas McGowan and Jack McCoy, and fullback Kiel Polito.
“These’ guys are coming into their own,” explained Gardell.
And then there’s Gardell himself. A former player at RPI and one who coached the Engineers 2005 to 2012, Gardell ended up owning the rugby-themed bar in Troy, NY (where RPI is based). He was contacted this year to help with the coaching setup and finally provided his own job description, which made him the Director of Rugby for both teams.
“I basically came out of retirement, and it’s been just over 30 days,” said Gardell. “These are amazing players to work with. They are responding. We tell these players that rugby is a critical thinking sport in a high-stress environment, and they are responding.”
